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Sustainability In Your Ear

Sustainability In Your Ear

著者： Mitch Ratcliffe
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 Mitch Ratcliffe interviews activists, authors, entrepreneurs and changemakers working to accelerate the transition to a sustainable, post-carbon society. You have more power to improve the world than you know! Listen in to learn and be inspired to give your best to restoring the climate and regenerating nature.Copyright 2025 Internet Media Strategies Inc. マネジメント・リーダーシップ リーダーシップ 地球科学 生物科学 科学 経済学
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  • SePRO's Mark Heilman On Phosphorus, Waterways, And Invasive Species

    SePRO's Mark Heilman On Phosphorus, Waterways, And Invasive Species
    2025/09/15
    Every summer, the same devastating story repeats across America: lakes that families have cherished for generations suddenly turn toxic green. Half a million people in Toledo lose their drinking water when Lake Erie blooms with poison algae. Or, Florida's red tide costs the state billions in lost tourism. But some of the most damaged bodies of water in America are getting a cleanup. Meet Dr. Mark Heilman, Vice President of Environmental Restoration and Advocacy at SePRO, whose two decades of water restoration work have brought 1.4 million acres of polluted lakes and wetlands across North America back to life. Mark's team achieved a 42% reduction in harmful phosphorus levels and protected $300 million in annual tourism revenue at Moses Lake, Washington.

    When phosphorus from fertilizers and runoff enters our waters, it acts like Miracle-Gro for algae, creating massive blooms that choke aquatic life and produce toxins that cause liver damage, neurological problems, and even death. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency assessments show the number of overly productive lakes with poor water quality is increasing. Harmful algal blooms are becoming more frequent and intense. Perhaps most striking is Heilman's noting that even benign-seeming weekend lawn care directly contributes to this crisis: a bushel of grass clippings that reach a waterway contains about a tenth of a pound of phosphorus, the same amount found in a box of Miracle-Grow fertilizer. When dumped into a waterway, those clippings can grow up to 50 pounds of algae. Heilman explains that treating a lake is like "performing surgery on an entire ecosystem," a process that involves a comprehensive assessment of water quality, community engagement, and multi-year management programs. The climate crisis is intensifying these challenges as warming water temperatures favor cyanobacteria growth, while invasive species like hydrilla—what Heilman calls "disturbance specialists"—exploit changing environmental conditions to establish footholds and outcompete native species. Yet he remains optimistic about prevention: "It's easier to prevent, takes less resources and investment to prevent them than to actually try to resolve them once these problems are in the environment." You can learn more about SePRO's restoration work at sepro.com.
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    37 分
  • Author and Activist Bill McKibben Brings The Sun

    Author and Activist Bill McKibben Brings The Sun
    2025/09/08
    Solar and wind have become the cheapest sources of power in human history, but political headwinds threaten to derail the fastest energy transformation ever recorded. At this crucial juncture, how do we ensure America doesn't surrender its technological leadership in clean energy to nations more willing to embrace the future? Meet Bill McKibben, legendary environmentalist and author whose four decades of climate writing have shaped our understanding of the environmental crisis. His latest book, Here Comes the Sun, argues that we're standing at the hinge of history. In 2024, 92% of new global electricity generation came from renewables, and the U.S. saw greater gains, at 96% of new generation capacity. McKibben, founder of 350.org and Third Act, believes we can fundamentally reshape how civilization powers itself if we look forward to energy abundance rather than backward to fossil fuel scarcity.

    The numbers are stunning, but the transition isn't guaranteed. McKibben warns that while the adoption of renewable energy is inevitable due to economic forces, it may not occur quickly enough to prevent catastrophic climate change. That's why he's organizing Sun Day, a national day of action on September 21st, designed to drive renewables out of the "alternative" category once and for all. Once solar panels are installed, McKibben explains, "the sun pleasantly delivers the energy for free over and over and over and over again." That's a paradigm shift from buying energy as a commodity that could reshape not just our power grid, but geopolitics itself. While partisan politics may divide Americans on climate change, polling shows both conservatives and liberals support solar power—albeit for different reasons. His conservative neighbors embrace energy independence and self-reliance, while liberals appreciate the environmental benefits. "Even humans are going to be hard pressed to figure out how to start a war over sunshine," McKibben notes.

    You can learn more about Bill McKibben's work at BillMcKibben.com and Sun Day events at Sunday.Earth. "Here Comes the Sun" is available on Amazon, at Powell's Books, and in local bookstores.
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    42 分
  • Sustainability In Your Ear: Carbonfuture is Building the Trust Infrastructure for Carbon Removal

    Sustainability In Your Ear: Carbonfuture is Building the Trust Infrastructure for Carbon Removal
    2025/09/01
    The carbon removal industry stands at a crucial crossroads. While cutting emissions remains essential, avoiding catastrophic warming now requires pulling billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere permanently. But as this nascent field grapples with questions of legitimacy, scalability, and accountability, a critical challenge remains: How do we build the infrastructure needed to track, verify, and certify that carbon has actually been removed and stays removed? Meet Hannes Junginger-Gestrich, CEO of Carbonfuture, a company helping define the monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) infrastructure that could transform carbon removal from scattered efforts into a functioning ecosystem. Launched five years ago, Carbonfuture has emerged as what CDR.fyi describes as "the largest facilitator of durable carbon removal" by volume. The company's digital platform integrates data across the carbon removal life cycle, connecting diverse approaches like biochar, enhanced rock weathering, and direct air capture with buyers seeking to meet climate commitments. "We are probably more the crowd, the ground keepers in a stadium that makes sure that everything is provided properly," Hannes explains, using a sports analogy to describe their role: "We are the ground keepers in a stadium [who ensure] the players have a playing field that's in shape and no one gets hurt, and the audience can come and they pay their tickets and have a good experience."

    The MRV infrastructure becomes crucial as corporate demand for verified carbon removal grows and trust becomes currency. One of the most interesting aspects of the conversation centers on balancing data confidentiality with transparency needs, particularly when collecting data along industrial value chains from agricultural residue producers to biochar processors to end users. Perhaps most telling is Junginger-Gestrich's unwavering commitment to scientific rigor over short-term economic gains: "We never had to trade off between rigor and allowing a not so good project on our platform for economic reasons. We always lean to the scientific and rigorous side." This philosophy has guided Carbonfuture's work with leading buyers like Microsoft, helping develop increasingly sophisticated approaches to carbon removal verification. While Junginger-Gestrich expresses concern about delayed emission reductions globally, he remains optimistic about carbon removal scaling: "I think we will be on the path to the gigatons by 2040 for sure." His vision emphasizes ecosystem thinking over vertical integration, aiming to drive down costs while creating network effects that could accelerate the entire field. As governments worldwide grapple with climate policy, the monitoring, reporting, and verification systems companies like Carbonfuture are developing now may well determine the success of our collective effort to reverse climate change. You can learn more about Carbonfuture at carbonfuture.earth.
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    45 分
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